Ice Green Eyes
by Lilac Winters21
Summary: A girl with a strange power shows up at Will's doorstep in a startling manner with a request for him.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so this is my first fanfic, so if I make formatting errors or something, I'm sorry, I'm still getting used to the system. **

**The idea for this fic came about ages ago, way before I knew that a twelfth book was going to exist. It took a while to get on paper though, so for this fic, assume that the events of the twelfth book never happened/won't happen. This basically takes place a few years after the end of _The Lost Stories_, so assume that not much has changed since then. Also, it will contain spoilers for various books in the series. **

**Oh, and here's a disclaimer: I don't own Ranger's Apprentice, because I am not an amazing writer like John Flanagan is. **

**I guess that's about it, so**** please enjoy the story!**

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A cloaked figure on a horse cantered down the dusty road, a silhouette against the setting sun. His silent form gave no hint of where he'd been, but it was clear from the determined manner with which he urged his horse on that he had a clear destination, and was in a hurry to get there. He seemed indifferent to his current surroundings, though the few people-mostly farmers finishing up work in the fields-that the rider passed were certainly not indifferent to him. They looked up at him with respect as well as a little fear. The rider heard whispers and low voices as those he passed discussed his return amongst themselves; he heard snatches that often contained his name, or the word "Ranger". He gave no sign that he heard any of the gossip, however, as he continued down the road. The face of the rider was hidden in the deep cowl of his cloak, but even if it had been seen his countenance would have given nothing away about his thoughts.

This changed, however, when the rider entered the forest that the path led into. Will Treaty allowed a wide grin to break out on his face as he urged Tug into a gallop, his cowl falling back off his head. He was just returning from a mission, and he was looking forward to seeing Alyss after their two month separation. Their marriage had been punctuated by separation, due to both Will's Ranger duties and Alyss's diplomatic missions, and though they both hated being apart, it made the time that they did have together all the more precious. And that was why his already huge grin grew even larger as Will rode up to the little cabin. He knew it was late enough that Alyss would probably have finished with her duties for the day and would be home.

He stabled Tug, groomed him, and made sure that the horse was fed. He was surprised that Alyss hadn't come out to greet him. As he entered, Ebony rushed up to greet him, barking loudly, but the cabin was otherwise deserted. Surprised, Will saw a note sitting on the table, and walked over to pick it up. _Dear Will,_ it read in Alyss's elegant handwriting,

_I know you're coming home today, and I'm sorry to have missed you. Unfortunately, a situation has come up with Hibernia. King Duncan is sending a group of Couriers to try to sort the problem out, and unfortunately that includes me. I don't know exactly how long I'll be gone, but it will be at least a month. I'm sorry I couldn't wait for you, but the king needed us to be ready to leave immediately. Hopefully, we'll come to a solution soon, and I'll be able to come home._

_Love, Alyss_

Will sighed as he read the note. The little cabin seemed less inviting whenever Alyss was away. Putting the note down, he started making his dinner. It wouldn't exactly be the dinner he'd imagined, he thought morosely. He set a pot of water boiling to make coffee-he needed something to perk him up since Alyss wasn't there-and made other preparations for dinner. He walked around the cabin, noting it was in a slight state of disarray. Alyss must have been busy before she left, Will thought. He returned to the kitchen area and continued getting food ready, lighting a lamp as it began to get dark outside.

Will had just finished cleaning up his meal and was beginning to tidy up the cabin when he heard hoof beats outside. He quickly strung his bow, grabbed his quiver, and wondering why Tug hadn't called out a warning, carefully eased the cabin's door open and slid out. Though the light had faded significantly, he could clearly see a silhouette of a horse and rider stopping in front of his door. As his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness Will realized with shock that the horse was Tug, but the rider was a girl he had never seen before. Will blinked, wondering if the darkness was playing tricks on him, but what he saw in front of him didn't change; a tall teenage girl with dark hair was sitting bareback on Tug. And Tug was calmly allowing her to sit on him, with a bucking, rider tossing fit nowhere in sight. Why was the small horse allowing the rider? Had she somehow discovered his code phrase? The girl herself looked calm and unruffled as Will drew an arrow and aimed it at her chest.

"Get off my horse, or I'll shoot," Will said as he looked her in the eye, trying to indicate that he meant his threat.

"No," the girl replied, sounding almost...amused, Will noted with surprise, "You won't. You're going to stop moving and put down your bow."

Will felt his hands open of their own accord, and the bow and the arrow tumbled to the ground. He found he couldn't look away from the girl's strange, icy green eyes, or move a single muscle in his body.

"My name," The girl calmly stated, "is Netra Orenda. And I want to be your apprentice".

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**So that's the first chapter! I'll probably make the others longer, but I really wanted to end this one here. So, what do you think? Please review, and don't be afraid to be critical, I can't improve unless you tell me what I'm doing wrong! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

A million thoughts were running through Will's mind, chief among them being about the girl's strange control over him. He thought about when Alyss had once talked about her experience when she was held prisoner in Castle Macindaw. She had talked about the blue stone Keren had that had made her reveal secrets and obey him. She had spoken of how felt compelled to obey Keren, and how the stone had utterly taken control of her mind. This was nothing like that, he thought to himself. As far as he could tell, his mind was still clear, and his thoughts were still his own. He didn't feel compelled to do what the girl told him. His body simply wouldn't obey him. He simply couldn't make his arms move to pick up the bow and string an arrow, or tear his eyes away from the girl's. He had no idea what was going on. Then, the girl's request registered itself in his mind, and a million more questions ran through his mind. He opened his mouth to demand she tell him what was going on, but she beat him to it.

"Just hear me out," she stated, and looked like she was going to continue on before Will interrupted her.

"Do I have a choice?" He asked curiously.

"Well, no," the girl-Netra-replied, "but I thought it sounded nice to ask," She continued on.

"You have to let me be your apprentice. Please". She added the 'please' on the end almost as an afterthought, but Will could see a flash of desperation in her eyes.

"Why do you want to be a ranger so badly?" Will asked. Since he couldn't do anything about his situation, he'd decided to go with it for the moment.

"I've seen what rangers in action. The good they can do, the evil they can stop. Yes, I know that there are no female rangers, but I honestly don't care. I've seen enough evil that I know I want-I need, to fight it". The girl ended with a sense of finality. Will was surprised, and also impressed, by her answer. He sensed that there was more to the story than she was telling him, but he also thought that what she had said so far was the truth. He let none of his thoughts show on his face, however, as he replied to her with something that had been bothering him throughout the conversation.

"Why even bother asking me? Why not just force me to do it?" He asked, thinking of how she was controlling him at the moment.

"I can't. And even if I could, I wouldn't. It just...wouldn't be right," She replied, an angry look in her eyes.

Interesting, Will thought, so she does have some morals. He pushed away the thought.

"I really don't want an appren-"

He stopped as he saw the look of despair that entered the girl's eyes as he started to refuse. He realized that her eyes seemed much older than she was, filled with shadows and darkness, as though she had seen terrible things that burdened her still. Something about that look made him instinctively want to trust her. He knew the feeling could be more of whatever she was using to control him, but he didn't think so. Will's instincts were generally good, and he was inclined to trust them, though he really wasn't sure what he was about to get into. He sighed, saying,

"You can stay here for a week," Will said, not at all sure about what he was doing, "If I think you've got the aptitude to be a Ranger, I'll take you on as my apprentice". A huge, joyful smile lit up Netra's face, and the shadows in her eyes dimmed. She opened her mouth to say something—probably thanking him—but Will cut her off.

"Don't thank me yet; you may find that you hate me by the end of this week. Becoming a Ranger is no easy task".

"Oh, don't worry," she replied, "After everything I've been through, I don't consider anything hard anymore". Will was about to comment on this, but realized he had a more pressing matter at hand.

"Do you think you could let me go?" He asked the girl.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize I was still binding you," she replied. She looked away as she swung herself off Tug, and Will stumbled forward, almost falling, the muscles he hadn't realized were tense relaxing themselves.

"What was that?" Will asked after he regained his balance.

"Well, generally a person's muscles tense up when they try to do something, but I'm binding them so they can't, and then when I let them go they-" Will cut her off.

"Not me falling. What you did with your eyes. How you controlled me. Binding, you just called it. How did you do it?" Netra looked uncomfortable. Will could tell it was a topic she didn't enjoy discussing.

"As your master, this is something I really need to know," he told her. She sighed, saying,

"I guess you do have the right to be told. I don't really know how I do it. It's just an ability I was born with. When I touch people or make eye contact with them, I can make them do what I want. I can control bodies, Ariel can control thoughts…" Netra trailed off. The sorrow was back in her eyes.

"Who's Ariel?" Will asked.

"She's my twin sister". Will noticed the sadness in her voice and didn't comment any more on it. He realized that this power she had described was also how she been able to mount Tug without a code phrase. She had bound the horse with her touch. Changing the subject, he told her to go inside and put her things away—he'd noticed she had a small pack he hadn't seen at first-in the empty room while he stabled Tug. The girl nodded quickly and went in, handing Tug's reigns to Will as she passed him. Tug snorted at her as she passed.

_I don't like her. _

"You just don't like that she got the better of you," Will replied quietly, so Netra wouldn't hear. Tug snorted again.

_You shouldn't have taken her as an apprentice. She'll be nothing but trouble. _

"You'll change your mind as soon as she gives you an apple," Will retorted. Tug responded by violently shaking his head in the way that horses do. Will sighed. He knew he never got the last word with his horse. He led him back to the small lean-to next to the cabin. After, he walked back to the cabin and carefully opened the door to the room that now belonged to Netra. She was lying on the bed, asleep. Will realized she must have been exhausted. He quietly closed the door, deciding to let her sleep. He could figure out things with her in the morning.

He considered the girl as he walked to a chair by the fire. She looked like she was about 15, so she was the right age to be an apprentice. She had appeared to be nimble when she had dismounted from Tug, which would be to her advantage as a Ranger. On the other hand, she was tall, and Rangers generally were slightly built. He could tell she had some secrets as well. She didn't look at all like a noble, but she hadn't seemed at all afraid of him as a Ranger, though most commoners were convinced that Rangers practiced black magic. She'd also been willing to steal a Ranger's horse and ride it in front of him, an act that most people, common and even noble, would have never dreamed of. She was definitely hiding something, though he wasn't sure what. And on top of all that, she was, well, a girl. There had never been a female Ranger that he knew of, and he didn't know if he would be allowed to train a girl as an apprentice. He knew he could still back out of it—all he had to do was send her away at the end of the week. He knew he couldn't do that, though. The look in her eyes had been desperate and lonely, and he knew he had to help her; no matter how hard training her was going to be.

**And that's chapter 2! I'm not sure how much I liked this chapter, so please review and tell me what I can do to improve it. I might go back and change it if I get some good suggestions. Also: Netra's talent is called binding now, but if anyone can come up with a better name for it I will seriously consider it. Thanks for reading! **


	3. Chapter 3

Netra woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. That was something that hadn't happened for a long time, not since… But she didn't need to be thinking about her past now. She was slightly embarrassed that she'd accidentally fallen asleep while she was unpacking her things, but she'd simply been exhausted. She had been walking all day to reach Will's cabin, and after that, the binding had taken a lot out of her. Binding two at the same time-Will and Tug-had been difficult. It was something that she hadn't had to do since before-no, she was not going to think about the past. Netra shook her head, as if trying to get rid of her memories, stretched and got out of bed. She smoothed her hair down, tugged on her rumpled clothes in a mostly unsuccessful attempt to look more presentable, and walked out the door. She was greeted with the sight of Will setting breakfast out on the table.

Will gestured for her to sit down, and he placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her. He also handed her a mug of coffee. After muttering her thanks, she tore into the food, realizing she hadn't eaten since the morning of the previous day. When Will refilled her plate she didn't notice that he was giving her the food he had intended for himself. Will sat down in the chair next to her with a mug of coffee, waiting while Netra finished eating.

"So, some rules," he said as she finished, trying to sound like he knew what he was doing, "First and foremost, you do not use your 'binding' on me. I am your master—or I will be if I accept you—and I need to be the one in charge, not you. You need to do whatever I ask, without question. I'll show you some basics in unseen and silent movement, shooting, and using knives, and if I think you can learn to be adequate, you can stay as my apprentice". He realized that his statement didn't actually have that many rules, and hesitated, searching his mind for anything he'd missed. Deciding there wasn't, he went on.

"The first thing you can do," he said, "Is wash the breakfast dishes. After that you can sweep the floors, beat the carpets and chop the firewood". He was mentally recalling the list of chores that Halt had given him on his first day as an apprentice. He also remembered Halt assigning him to fill the water barrel, but he'd already done that this morning before he'd cooked breakfast.

Netra didn't look pleased to be doing chores, but obviously didn't want to complain about the opportunity she had been given. She ran to start doing the dishes, and Will took his coffee cup and moved to a seat by the fire. He now realized why Halt had always said he enjoyed having apprentices. An easy morning while Netra did his chores was a very pleasant prospect indeed.

Netra wished she knew what was going on. She knew how to do chores well enough, but she'd expected her training as a Ranger's apprentice to be a little more...exciting. Also, the sight of Will siting by the fire sipping coffee while she did all of his chores annoyed her slightly. Didn't he realize all that she'd gone through to find him, and how much she'd risked in her display the night before? She hadn't done all that just so she could do his chores for him. Why on earth was he having her do anyway? She didn't see how it was related to Ranger skills at all. Maybe, she thought, this was some sort of test. A test of what, she had no idea. She sighed and continued scrubbing plates.

Throughout the morning, Netra followed Will's list of chores while Will looked through reports. Though she didn't realize it, Will was observing her and how she did the various tasks. He was impressed that she hadn't complained once, and he was impressed at how quickly she was doing the chores. She seemed strong and healthy, and she wasn't avoiding the work. When lunch time came around, and the girl was about done with the chores, Will, recalling another of Halt's lessons to him, asked Netra if she knew how to cook. When she looked down, he could tell she didn't. So he set about teaching her, showing her various ingredients and how to prepare them, the result being a delicious looking stew. While they waited for the stew to cook, they sat at the table, talking.

"What do you know about about Rangers?" He asked her, wanting to know how much he would need to explain to her. She must have know something about Rangers, since she had a desperate wish to become one.

"Why don't you just explain everything to me, so I can tell what is truth and what is rumor out of my previous knowledge?" Later, Will would realize she had completely dodged the question and avoided telling him how much prior knowledge she had, but though he would ponder it later, for now he was caught up with the business of being a master. He explained to her about how the Rangers protected the kingdom, how they gathered information and enforced the law, and how they acted as generals in times of war. Netra, throughout the whole speech, said nothing, and only nodded occasionally, though she appeared to be listening attently. It was impossible to tell if the girl had ever heard the information before from the blank expression on her face. At least that expression would serve her well as a Ranger, Will thought, even if he couldn't tell what she was thinking.

The rest of the day passed all too slowly for Netra. After they had eaten lunch, Will, wanting to see how fit she was, had made her run what felt like miles through the forest while he followed, riding on Tug. The running wasn't difficult-she'd spent all too much time running in the past-but it was still exhausting. Along with the physical stress, there was the metal strain from the knowledge of Will following and judging her. In the past, she'd always known that, if she messed up, her powers would always allow for her to change the situation to suit her, to give her a second chance. For the first time in her life, that wasn't an option. She knew Will would throw her out if she tried to bind him, and he was her only chance. If the famous Will Treaty rejected her, she doubted any other Ranger would accept her. So, when it began to grow dark and Will allowed her to go back to her room, she collapsed on her bed, exhausted both physically and mentally, and was asleep within minutes. I have to become a Ranger, Netra thought as she drifted off to sleep. And if Will doesn't reject me, I have a chance.

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**I'm sorry this took so long! I'll try to be better about posting frequently in the future. I would have been able to post it last night, but the website was being stupid and wouldn't let me post... But yeah. Thanks for reading and please review! And thanks to everyone who's already reviewed!**


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Will woke Netra up as the sun was rising.

"Rangers wake early," he told her as she glared at him. Will sent her out to fill the water barrel, and began to cook breakfast. By the time she finished, he'd set breakfast out on the table, and they both sat down to eat in silence. Netra complemented Will's cooking, but after that, there didn't seem much to be said. After they'd both downed cups of coffee, Will turned to Netra.

"The chores aren't going to do themselves. Everything you did yesterday is your new daily routine". Netra looked as though she desperately wanted to say something, but apparently thinking better of it, went off to start the chores in silence. Bleary eyed from the early hour at first, it took the girl longer than it had the day before, and Will had finished cooking lunch before she reentered the cabin, finished.

"Meet me outside the cabin. There's something you should try," Will told her while she was washing dishes. He went into his room to get something, and Netra, quickly drying off a final plate, walked out of the cabin. She noticed that there was a large hay bale set up a short distance away: she guessed that Will had set it up while she was doing chores. She heard the door open, and turned around, seeing Will, carrying a bow. She smiled. Today, she would learn to shoot.

He'd gotten out one of his spare bows-a recurve bow. He demonstrated for her how to hold the bow and draw it, correctly guessing that she'd never held a bow before. Netra tried it, stringing an arrow, and, struggling, drew it back and loosed it. It missed the hay bale Will had set up by about a yard. The next two arrows she shot had the same result. She looked questioningly at Will and asked what she was doing wrong.

"You're releasing the arrow too soon, and it's jerking your arrow off where your aiming. Try it more slowly and smoothly. Following Will's advice, Netra shot again, and this time hit the outer edge of the hay bale. She shot several more times, but none of her arrows got much closer to the center.

"I need practice," Netra said as she lowered the bow.

"Yes, you do," Will told her. "It takes months of practice to become a good archer. It takes even longer to become an archer that's up to Ranger standards. For now, though, I have something else to show you". He sent Netra to go and get the arrows she'd shot, and got out his spare set of knives-he'd have to remember to remember to get a new set if Netra ended up as his apprentice. After the girl returned, he explained the basic principles of knife throwing, and demonstrated for her. When she tried it, the result was vastly different from her shooting. Her small throwing knife thudded into the tree about a foot above where Will's knife still stuck out. Will looked at her in surprise.

"Have you thrown knives before?"

"Oh, um..." Netra looked uncomfortable with the question. Will looked at her, waiting for an answer. Unexpectedly, the girl's eyes grew bright with tears, and there was a look of pain on her face as a tear slowly slid down her cheek.

"Yes, I was taught how to throw knives. Can we please not talk about it though? I...I just can't talk about my past. It's too much, I'm sorry," she said in a choked voice, wiping her eyes.

Will had seen many people who were haunted by devastating pasts, and the look in Netra's eyes confirmed she was one of them. As curious as he was, he couldn't bring himself to ask her any more.

"All right, just continue practicing then. You have the rest of the afternoon to practice shooting and throwing knives. See if you can get so you at least hit the target with your bow most of the time". He walked over to the porch and sat down in one of the chairs, watching Netra practice.

Netra retrieved the knife she'd thrown, and put it aside, deciding it would be better to practice shooting. As she aimed the arrow, she thought about how dangerous her conversation with Will had been. She'd discovered a while ago that crying was a good way to put any inquiries about her past to rest, and so had become quite talented at producing tears whenever she needed to. She was grateful that Will, in that respect, wasn't unlike most people she had met. If he hadn't accepted her tears...

Her lie had been made more convincing by the fact that it had some truth in it; she didn't enjoy talking about her past, though for different reasons than she might have led Will to believe, and she had experienced much more sorrow than most. If Will knew the truth, however... If he found out the reason she knew how to throw knives, and the full reason she wanted to be a Ranger...well, he wouldn't be letting her stay as his apprentice, that was for sure. He'd tie her up and personally throw her in prison before she could blink. And without Ariel, she didn't think she could escape, especially not from a Ranger.

Her shaking hands released the arrow, and it flew crookedly, nowhere near the target. She pulled out another arrow and forced her hands to be steady. There was absolutely no way Will could find out about anything-there was no one who remembered enough to tell him a single incriminating thing about her. And if somehow, impossibly, Will did find out...well, she'd worry about that if it happened. She needed to let what she'd done go—she was determined to be a different person from now on. Satisfied, she aimed and released the arrow. It hit the edge of the hay bale with a satisfying thud.

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**I am SO SORRY it took me so long to update. Y'know, I always thought I'd be one of those people who updates once a week, always on the same day. You know, one of those super regular people. Yeah, that didn't happen. Again, I'm really sorry. I'll try to be more regular with my posting—you hopefully won't have to wait for over a month again. Anyway….What do you think of the chapter? Is Will in character? How's my writing doing? Please review and tell me! Seriously, even if you hate my story, please tell me, as long as you say what about it you hate. I'm always willing to go back and fix a chapter if people tell me it's bad.**

**Oh, and thanks to all of you who've favorited and followed! You have no idea how happy it makes me to get an email saying that someone's following my story. **

**Thanks again for reading everyone!**


	5. Chapter 5

For the first time in the past few days, Netra woke up on her own, without interference from Will. Glancing out the window, she could tell from the dawning sky that she probably had about half an hour until Will woke her up. About to doze until she absolutely had to wake up, she sat up quickly as a stray fact entered her mind.

It had been a week. Exactly one week since she'd arrived at Will's cabin.

And that meant that today was the day when Will decided if she could stay or not. She jumped out of bed and threw her clothes on, ready to face the day. Nervousness coursed through her. What if Will wouldn't take her? What if he sent her away? No, she ordered herself, don't think about that. Instead, she thought about the past week. The day after she'd learned how to shoot, Will had shown her the basics of silent movement. He hadn't said much, but she'd gotten a sense that he'd approved of her performance. After that, the rest of the week was spent practicing everything she'd learned. She'd improved little, but they weren't skills that could be mastered in a few days. Despite her small improvement however, she had grown more familiar with the weapons and silent movement tactics. And hopefully, Will had noted it. Her thoughts returning to what the day would bring, Netra walked out the door of her room. It couldn't hurt to get an early start on chores today to try to impress Will.

Will woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking. As he left his room, he saw that Netra was at the stove, cooking eggs on the stove.

"About time you woke up," she commented as she slid an omelet off the skillet and onto the plate. She handed the plate to him, gesturing for him to sit down and eat. Scraping eggs out of the pan for herself, she grabbed another plate, this one containing bacon, and shifted a few strips of bacon onto each of their plates. Finally, she poured mug of coffee for each of them, and sat down herself, grinning. Will still looked slightly surprised that Netra was not only awake, but had already made breakfast, but he sat down and began to eat. The food was delicious. As they ate, Netra kept watching Will. He couldn't figure out why, until he realized that it was the same reason that she had made him breakfast. It had been a week since Netra had arrived, and she was awaiting his decision.

He thought over the past week. Netra had done a good job shooting for someone who had never picked up a bow before, and with her previous training in throwing knives, she wasn't bad at it. Also, Netra had a slight natural talent for moving unseen. Given all those elements, it seemed only natural for Will to take her as an apprentice. However, there was still something off about her... And besides, though he'd often imagined getting his own apprentice in the past, he now felt totally unprepared and unready to teach one. As for the fact that she was a girl, well... He'd seen the Netra's talent and her other skills, as well as her hardworking personality, and there was no denying that she was as capable and deserving of apprenticeship as any boy. Will suddenly realized that the girl would make a very good Ranger. And that, he thought, rather settled the question, didn't it? It wasn't really a problem of whether he wanted to keep Netra as an apprentice or not. He owed it to her, to his own teachers, and to the Ranger Corps itself to train her, whether she had her own secrets or not. He realized that Netra was still watching him, and he looked back at her.

"You can stay", he told her. A huge smile lit up her face.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Netra cried out, "You won't regret it, I promise!"

"Oh, I know I won't regret it, but you might after a few months of training," Will said dryly. "Your first real day of training starts now. After you finish your chores, meet me outside with your bow. You have a lot of practice ahead of you". Netra's grin didn't even falter as she started to collect the dishes to wash.

The next day, Will realized that he had no idea what the Ranger procedure taking on an apprentice was. He knew, of course, that the official test for the entry of apprenticeship was at the annual Gathering-he'd been tested there himself as an apprentice. However, Netra would need a kit and bow-she couldn't use his spares forever-and she would also need a Ranger horse. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how to go about requesting the equipment for Netra. Normally, this was the type of thing he would have asked Halt, but Halt was away, on the trail of a group of bandits who were hitting farms all over Redmont. He couldn't think of anyone else in Redmont who had enough knowledge of Rangers to be able to answer his question, and so he'd determined he'd have to wait until Halt's return to inquire about what to do about Netra.

Fortunately for Will, he didn't have to wait. It was around noon, and Will was sitting watching Netra practice shooting when Tug neighed out a warning that someone was coming. From the answering whinny, it was another Ranger horse, and sure enough, a few minutes later Gilan rode into the clearing.

"Gilan!" Will cried out, "What are you doing here?

"Just passing through on my way back to Whitby". When Halt and Will were away, Gilan moved in from Whitby to be Redmont's temporary Ranger. He handed Will a few papers.

"I was escorting a troublemaking free lance to the castle. The Baron had a few things to say to him, mostly regarding the fields he burned down and the homes he destroyed. Anyway, that's my report of Redmont". Gilan normally wrote up reports of the goings on of Redmont while Halt and Will were away to keep them up to date on their fief. Though it may not have been strictly necessary in all cases, both Will and Halt appreciated it.

Gilan looked as though he was about to say something else, but was distracted by the sound of an arrow thudding into a tree. When Netra had heard Tug's warning call she had stopped practicing to see who the newcomer was. After she realized he was another Ranger, and therefore not a threat, she started shooting again. Gilan turned toward her, and then looked back at Will, confused.

"Who's this?" He asked, looking strangely at Will.

"This is Netra Orenda. She's my new apprentice," Will said calmly.

"Girls aren't Rangers," Gilan said, still looking oddly at Will.

"Well, this one is. I-" He stopped. Netra had put down her bow and walked over to the two men once she realized she was the topic of discussion. She'd gestured for Will to stop talking.

"Maybe I should show the Ranger here why you decided to train me as a Ranger, despite my being a girl," she said with a secretive smile. Will could tell that she meant her strange ability, not any skill she might have at throwing knives or moving unseen.

"Why don't we all go to the porch and sit down. What I have in mind will work much better that way". Will nodded his assent to her, and the three of them walked over to the porch. Will and Gilan sat down in the two chairs on the porch, while Netra remained standing.

As Gilan sat down, he wondered what was going on. If almost any other Ranger had suddenly decided to take a girl as an apprentice, he would have called them crazy, but he knew Will well to trust his judgment. Whatever reason he had for taking this girl on must be a good one. He was surprised, however, when Netra laid her hand on his arm.

"Relax," she told him. About to ask her what on earth she meant, he stopped as a curious sensation spread throughout his body. Every single muscle he had released all tension, and his whole body moved into a state of complete relaxation. What's going on? He thought sluggishly. After that, however, he felt so calm and comfortable that thinking seemed like too much of a bother, so he stopped thinking and just sat, spread out on the chair.

Will and Netra watched as Gilan sagged back into the chair, his head tipping back and his eyes lowering to half mast. Netra, Will noticed, kept her hand on Gilan's arm.

"He'll stay like this for a few minutes after I'm not touching him anymore. After that, he'll slowly start to go back to normal-he'll recover about five minutes after that. Right now, though, he's in a state of total calmness," Netra said.

"So as long as you're touching him he'll just...sit there?" Will asked her.

"Pretty much. Also, he'll answer any question you ask him honestly," she replied.

"How's that work?" Will asked, not seeing the connection between relaxation and honest answers.

"I don't really know, actually. My talent didn't come with a guidebook. My theory always was that after a person's body reaches a certain level of relaxation, their mind can't help but relax, and vice versa. And when their minds are that relaxed... They just sort of answer any question put to them naturally, I guess. I think they'd probably follow orders too, but they don't want to move if they're that relaxed? ...Like I said, I don't really understand it, I just know it works. So," she said, abruptly stopping her explanation, "Is there anything you want to ask him?" Will considered the question for a moment. He didn't want to take advantage of his friend in this state, but he did want to see if it would work. He could already imagine the uses that this could have in interrogations and other occasions of information gathering.

"Where is the location of the hidden strongbox in your cabin in Whitby?" Will knew that even the existence of the strongboxes in Ranger cabins were a closely guarded secret, and that Gilan would never consider revealing the location of his in front of someone like Netra, who he didn't know or trust.

"Under the sixth board from the door," Gilan said in an uncaring monotone unlike anything Will had ever heard him speak in before. The tone of his voice, the exceedingly blank expression on his face, and the answer itself all convinced Will that this really was Netra's power. A pause stretched over the air for a few minutes, until Netra broke the silence.

"Anything else you want to ask him? Embarrassing secrets, if there's a girl he's in love with, anything?" She asked with a mischievous smile. Will considered for a moment, but then his conscious reasserted itself.

"No, bring him out of it now," Will replied. Netra looked slightly disappointed, but she took her hand off Gilan's arm. For a few minutes, nothing appeared to change, but slowly, Gilan's face regained its normal, intelligent look, and he began to sit up instead of remaining sprawled out across the chair.

"What was that?" He asked weakly, still not having completely regained his strength. He only had a hazy memory of the past few minutes, but he could distinctly remember revealing the location of his hidden strongbox and had no understanding of why he'd done so.

"That," Will said with a grin, "Was Netra".

* * *

Again, I am incredibly sorry for the long delay. Originally, this was going to be two separate chapters, but the first one wasn't quite long enough (I like to have each chapter be at least one thousand words), so now you get one extra long chapter.

Also, fun fact about the story as a reward for your patience: The name 'Netra' means 'eyes' and the name 'Orenda' means 'magic power' (I suppose the magic part isn't totally accurate but close enough). I enjoy doing stuff like that with names.

Thanks for reading everyone! Please review! Criticism is always appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

Before Gilan left, Will asked him about the process for taking on an apprentice, remembering that Gilan himself had recently had an apprentice graduate. The Ranger Corps, with its traditional disregard for ceremony and respect for individuality, didn't have many regulations about taking on apprentices. They had to be fast on their feet and around the age of 15, both of which Netra was. Will simply had to send a report to Crowley notifying him of Netra's apprenticeship, and Crowley would send Will a Ranger's kit for Netra and tell Old Bob to start getting a horse ready for her. After Gilan left, Will sent the letter off, and by the time they got Netra's equipment , a few weeks later, her training had intensified.

Netra's days had taken on a regular pattern. She got up at dawn to make breakfast for herself and Will. Then, as the sun was still coming up, she would go out and practice with her weapons-Will said she needed to be used to shooting in any type of light. Will had showed her how to set up a wide range of targets, and she would practice on these until the sun was high in the sky. Then, after a quick lunch (also made by Netra), she was taught by Will in an area of his choice for the day; she might learn how to read coded Ranger messages, or she might be sent for a run in the woods. Sometimes, Will would send her out into the woods and tell her to get back to him without him seeing or hearing her. She never quite succeeded at this, though she eventually graduated from "sounding like a bear in a china shop" to being "halfway decent", to quote Will on both. Netra would continue to work until the evening, when she and Will ate dinner. After dinner, there was always more to be done. For the first month, Will worked on making Netra her own recurve bow while she watched. Will always explained what he was doing, so as to teach Netra about the process. After the bow was finished, however, Will sent Netra out to practice shooting and knife throwing until after dark. After this point, she would typically fall into her bed exhausted and fall asleep instantly.

There were occasions, of course, where this routine was interrupted. One day, Will told Netra to come with him, and they returned back the next day with Netra's new horse, Dare, a chocolate colored, intelligent-looking beast. Other days, Will and Netra were called away because of thieves or other criminals on the loose in Redmont. These were small affairs, rarely taking more than a day or two, or a week at most. Then there was the time when Halt had returned and been first introduced to Netra. He had taken the news of Netra's apprenticeship much better than Gilan had; he'd seemed to consider Netra a capable apprentice, and had taken Will at his word about Netra's power. After each of these events, however, life had gone back to normal; the routine was reestablished. Netra liked this, and enjoyed the sense of stability it brought to her life; it was more regularity than she'd had in a long time.

Through all of the hard work and pain, Netra never complained. A competitive smile had the tendency to tug at the corners of her lips whenever she worked at something especially hard. She was always struggling to improve, to excel, to beat her last score; as though, Will often thought, she was constantly in a competition against herself. It was a guess not far from the truth. Netra's inner competitiveness drove her to strive to beat others, to become one of the best; and with the absence of others to compare herself against, she always assumed she was below standard and worked to improve. Will admired that quality about her, remembering that in his own days as an apprentice, he hadn't always been as eager to work and improve.

Master and apprentice also got to know each other as time went on. Netra discovered Will's sense of humor-something that hadn't been apparent to her at first-and his enthusiasm for adventure. She heard story after story about his adventures with Alyss, Halt, Horace, and Evanlyn. Some of the stories he told her were legendary throughout the kingdom-in vastly exaggerated and confused forms-and hearing the actual events was actually a bit of a letdown. In turn, Will learned of Netra's adventurous spirit, willingness to try anything, and good sense of what was right. He learned a few snippets about her past through offhand comments-she had a few stories about the mischief she and her sister had gotten up to as children, and she'd mentioned her mother a few times-but any direct questioning led to Netra avoiding his gaze and staying silent until the subject was changed.

They were good days, those months that Netra trained under Will. As the months passed, Netra could feel herself improving, becoming stronger and more capable at the skills she was being taught. Life felt perfect in the little cabin, and for a while, illogically, she wanted life to stay that way forever. And it seemed for a while that life would stop, if not forever, for a long time. Things changed, however, when, one morning, Will made an announcement:

"Next week," he said, "is the Gathering. It's the annual meeting of all the Rangers in Araluen". Netra felt her stomach drop down to her toes. Will began to continue his explanation, but Netra interrupted him.

"All the other Rangers will be there?" She asked in a forced light tone.

"That's what I said," Will replied, grinning, not sensing her distress. He continued his explanation, but Netra barely registered it.

I should have known, she told herself, I should have known that perfect could never last.

* * *

**And on that note, the chapter ends. **

**I had an author's note written out, but I accidentally hit back and lost it and I don't really feel like retyping the whole thing.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

Netra crouched in the bushes, her knife drawn and ready to throw. Her eyes were locked on her target, and she tensed, preparing to throw as she heard hoof beats getting nearer. The approaching horse and rider sounded like they were about to turn the bend just before her in the road when a gloved hand grabbed her wrist. The gloved fingers contorted around her hand, forcing the knife out of her grip. It seemed to happen in an instant, and in her shock, Netra forgot all of the training that had been pounded into her over the past months. She half jumped (slightly impaired by the iron grip on her wrist) and turned.

"You! But how...?"

_Earlier that day_

Netra rode alongside Will down the dusty forest road. They had been riding for about two days, heading down the long, winding road to the Gathering. Neither had spoken for a while, but it was a comfortable quietness, though it allowed Netra more time than she appreciated to contemplate certain topics she would have preferred to not think about. Finally, however, Will broke the silence.

"Notice anything about the road we're traveling on?" It was the type of question Netra had grown used to in her past months of training, designed to test her awareness of her surroundings. She slowed, then stopped Dare for a moment to better observe the road.

"It looks like a fairly popular path. Lots of foot traffic, lots of animal traffic. Someone with a horse rode through here recently, probably earlier today-the hoof prints still look fresh". She looked expectantly at Will, hoping she'd given him what he was looking for.

"Anything else?" He asked. Drat, Netra thought, I missed something. She desperately looked around at her surroundings again, hoping to notice something new.

"Ummm..." Netra responded, hoping to buy time by drawing the word out. When still nothing came to mind, she admitted defeat. "No, I don't think so".

"Look at how shallow the prints are. Does that tell you anything?" Will prompted her. It dawned on Netra what he was trying to get her to see.

"Oh! It was a smaller horse, or maybe a pony, probably about the size of our horses". She looked at Will for approval. He grinned.

"Exactly. Very like our own horses. In fact, I'm guessing these are the tracks of Abelard, Halt's horse". Netra nodded. It made sense. They had passed nearby the castle a little ways into their journey, so it made sense that Halt was ahead of them. What she didn't see, however, was why it was significant. She glanced again at the tracks, and then looked back at Will as he continued to speak.

"I'm going to send you ahead on Dare. You'll be going through the woods, a decent way away from the path, and you'll need to go fast. I need you to get past Halt and lie in wait for him,"

"And why exactly am I doing this?" Netra asked, not seeing what Will wanted her to do.

"Because you're going to try to take him by surprise. It's tradition for Rangers to try to get the better of their former masters on the way to Gatherings. You're going to help me do it," Will said.

Netra smiled. The idea of surprising the legendary, unshakeable Halt appealed to her. "So what do I do?"

"Get ahead of him," Will repeated, "then choose a spot and wait for him. Then, when he gets near, see if you can spook him. Throw your knife at one of the trees ahead of him-not too close, but close enough to make him jump," Netra nodded, proud to be entrusted with the mission.

"Do you really think I could surprise him?" She asked, pride slightly creeping into her tone.

"No, but if you somehow did manage it I want you to know what to do," Netra visibly deflated slightly, and Will smiled at her.  
"You're an apprentice. You'd have to be some sort of prodigy to be able to trick a full Ranger," Netra looked a little reassured, but still slightly wounded.

"So," she asked, "If I'm not going to surprise Halt, what am I doing?"

"Distract him. If he catches you, it will draw his attention away from the rest of his surroundings for a few minutes. While he's occupied with you, I'll be sneaking up behind him". Netra was beginning to catch on.

"So I should try to make noise and be attention grabbing?" she asked, a cheeky smile on her face. "I think I could manage that".

"Don't be too obvious, or he'll know it's a trap," Will warned. Netra nodded, the smile still spread across her face. She waited as Will gave her directions for how to navigate the forest, and then nudged Dare into action, riding swiftly into the woods.

Will grinned as Netra galloped away. Ever since a few years after he had been made a Ranger, he had joined Gilan's efforts to try to take Halt by surprise on the road to the Gathering. Sometimes they had worked together in their attempts, sometimes not; but one thing had always been constant: they had yet to succeed in actually startling their former master. Will hoped that this year, with the added element of Netra to the scheme, he might finally be able to claim victory.

He had been being exceedingly generous in even allowing for the possibility of Netra taking Halt by surprise. The girl was decent at silent and hidden movement for a first year apprentice, but she was nowhere near the level she would have to be at to fool Halt. Will wasn't even sure he himself had the silent movement skills needed for that. After Will reached the point he'd decided on, he dismounted from Tug, giving him the hand signal to continue on as if he was carrying a rider.

"Ride to the Gathering, all right?" Will told his horse. Tug looked at him with liquid eyes.

_You aren't going to catch him. _

Will scowled at the pony. "I don't remember asking for your opinion," he said to the shaggy grey horse. Tug shook his mane violently, as if to say, no, but I'll give it to you anyway. With a sigh, Will gestured for the horse to get moving. The Ranger horse began to walk down the path, and Will turned to head into the forest.

_Present_

Netra, knowing Halt had been riding a horse, had assumed when she heard hoof beats that it was Halt, still riding Abelard. She now regretted her assumption as Abelard trotted up the road, rider less, and Halt stood in front of her. She cursed herself silently. She had been so proud, thinking that she, an apprentice, would be the first to ever surprise the legendary Halt. Netra now realized how foolish that ambition had been.

Despite her wounded pride, she still remembered the role Will had assigned her to play. At least, she thought, if I can't surprise Halt myself, I can still watch as Will makes him jump. Feeling slightly mollified, she looked at Halt, who had an eyebrow raised at her. Distract him, she thought.

"That _hurt_," she complained, rubbing her wrist. It was the first real complaint she'd uttered within the hearing of one of the other Rangers.

"It would have hurt a lot more if I'd been an enemy with a sword, ready to catch you unaware," Halt replied sardonically. The Hibernian burr in his voice caught Netra off guard as it always did. No matter how many times she spoke to him, she couldn't actually get used to the fact that Araluen's most famous Ranger wasn't, in fact, originally Araluen.

She scowled at him, not acting this time. She disliked her mistake in this joke being turned into a lesson. Knowing Halt, she knew it would be a mistake to keep protesting; she also knew she had to keep him talking, even if she would regret the conversation later.

"A normal enemy wouldn't be wearing gloves! I would have been able to bind them," she retorted, her voice pitched slightly louder than normal. Halt frowned at her. Netra gulped, knowing she was about to hear a lecture about being prepared, but kept the slightly pouty expression she'd been putting on. She knew she had to keep him focused on her and not suspicious.

Unbeknownst to her, Will was standing in a tree about ten meters away. He smiled at the scene below him; he remembered getting his own fair share of lectures during his own apprenticeship, and didn't envy Netra at the moment. She was, however, providing the perfect distraction for their trick at the moment. Will put an arrow to his string. He remembered how, when he was an apprentice, he had, under Halt's prompting, played the same trick on Gilan. Now the joke would be on Halt, he thought. Just before he was prepared to shoot, Halt, interrupting his lecture to Netra, said in a casual tone, "You may as well come out, Will". Will let the arrow down and climbed down from the tree.

"How on earth did you know I was there?" He asked his former master.

"Where else would you have been, with Netra here as bait?" Was the dry response returned. Will sighed. This year, apparently, wouldn't be the year he got the better of Halt. Maybe next year he and Gilan could come up with a better plan...

* * *

Will, Halt, and Netra rode into camp mid-afternoon of the next day. The sight of all the different Rangers together was strange for Netra, who'd never seen more than two Rangers in one place at a time.

The three of them reached a patch of open space where Halt said they could set up their tents. Will showed Netra how to put the tents together, and helped her set three of them up. While they worked, several other Rangers stopped by to talk to then. Several, especially the apprentices, stared at Netra with open curiosity. The girl could feel the disapproval of them clearly felt about her gender, but she was cordial and friendly to everyone. As long as she could train, she didn't really care about anyone else's opinion over whether she should or not. Overall it was an intriguing experience; most of the Rangers seemed to be very intelligent men, and conversation with them was interesting. One Ranger, James, asked her where she was from-the story of how she had become an apprentice had become common knowledge by now, a part of it being that she wasn't from Redmont.

"I grew up in Norgate fief, not far from Macindaw," Netra replied, her tone becoming guarded. She fervently hoped the conversation wouldn't turn to her past, or what had made her want to become a Ranger.

James, a young man in his mid-twenties with reddish hair, grinned.

"Well, then you should meet Harrison! He's the Ranger of your home fief". And before Netra could protest, he called out for Harrison, who apparently was on the other side of the clearing, to come join them. Netra's hands shook slightly as a figure began to cross the clearing over to them. Stop it, she told herself. _He can't remember anything_. You have no reason to be scared. Just act like you've never met him before. She forced a neutral expression onto her face as Harrison walked up to them.

Norgate's Ranger nodded a hello to James and the other Rangers tethered around Netra. As his gaze reached Netra herself, however he froze. He blinked, and his face shifted into a look of confusion. He closed his eyes momentarily and shook his head slightly, as if to get rid of excess thoughts. His gaze refocused on Netra, and now a new look came into his eyes; recognition, then anger.

"You!" He cried out angrily. "What are you doing here?"

No, thought Netra, no, no, no, no. This shouldn't be possible-this CAN'T be possible. Her fear was obvious on her face as Harrison closed the distance between them in a few paces.

"Look, I-" Netra began. Harrison cut her off by swinging his fist to connect with the side of her head. Netra dropped to the ground, unconscious. There was a collective gasp of shock from the Rangers gathered around; such behavior was totally unheard of for Gatherings.

"What do you think you're doing?" Will yelled angrily at Harrison, stepping toward him threateningly.

"Protecting us all! If that brat's allowed to roam free who knows what we'd find ourselves doing! And if her sister's around to get in our heads-". Harrison would have continued rambling, a wild glint in his eyes, had Will not cut him off.

"What are you talking about? She wouldn't do anything like that, she's my apprentice". Harrison looked at Will as though he had sprouted another head.

"Your apprentice? _Your apprentice_? Well, _your apprentice _is a traitor to this kingdom!"

* * *

**Guess who's not actually dead? Me! Though some of you might want to kill me for taking so long to update...**

**Hopefully, I'll be able to update more now. I'm currently doing a 30 day challenge to write 150 words for this story every day, so hopefully that'll translate to a couple updates this month (well, it's the end of the month now, so I suppose I should make that a couple updates next month).**

**This ended up being a pretty long chapter for me (about 2,170 words, not counting the author's note). I'm really not sure how I feel about it-I don't know if I like how the attempted trick on Halt worked out. What do you guys think? Was it good? Horrible? Worthy of banishment to my Google Doc of discarded passages? (Yes, that's actually a thing I have. I really hate deleting stuff). I think I like how the last section (at the Gathering) turned out, but what do you all think? (Well, you probably hate the cliff hanger/hate me for writing the cliff hanger, but if you can get past that, what do you think?).**

**Well, that's enough rambling for this author's note. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Reviews are always appreciated :)**


	8. Chapter 8

When Netra woke up, she was blind. A second later, she realized that the blackness was due do a blindfold tied around her head. She tried to move her hands to take it off, only to discover that her thumbs were cuffed together. Her ankles were also shackled together, and she was lying on the dusty, leaf-covered, forest ground. She struggled into a sitting position, finding that there was a tree next to her that she could lean against. After she started moving, she heard the dry crunch of compressed leaves and twigs as someone walked away from her, then the noise of someone else walking toward her.

"So. You're awake," a cold, low voice said. Netra winced. Her worst nightmare had just come true.

"Will, please, I-"

"I trusted you, Netra. I took you in and trained you, let you keep quiet about your past, because I thought you were a good person". Will's voice was still quiet, but it was harsh with disappoint and betrayal. Netra was momentarily grateful for the blindfold, because it prevented Will from being able to see the tears in her eyes as he continued.

"So now, I think it's time you tell me the truth about who you are. Not a sob story about how your past is too painful to think about, the truth. You owe me that much". She knew he was right. Will had taken her in, and treated her like any other apprentice. He deserved to know the truth.

"It's a bit of a long story," she warned.

"I have the time," he replied, without a trace of a grin in his voice. Though Netra knew she deserved it, his total disappointment in her still cut deeply. She pulled herself together, gathering her thoughts.

"I guess I should start at the beginning. I grew up in Norgate fief-well, you know that-with my mother and my sister, Ariel. Ariel and I were twins-identical twins. The only way to tell us apart was by our eyes-hers were pale blue, as opposed to the pale green of mine.

"Ariel and I, we've had our abilities for as long I can remember. I've always been able to manipulate people's bodies, and she's always been able to manipulate people's minds. We'd asked our mother again and again why we were like this, why we were different from other children. She never gave us an answer, just like she never gave us an answer when we asked about our father; neither Ariel nor I has ever known him; it's always just been the three of us. Once, we got angry with Mother and tried to bind her to answer our questions. It didn't work, and after that we never mentioned our abilities or our father again". She shook her head. "I still don't know why our binding didn't work on her".

"Our lives were turned upside down when we were ten. Thieves attacked our village and-" Netra broke off. The memories came rushing back to her all too fast, all at once. The band of thieves, bearing swords, axes, and knifes, crashing into their house. The broken door, smashed clay plates, the stink of alcohol from the men...and then the blood on the floor, and the world burning...

"S-sorry. It-it's not a particularly pleasant memory". She swallowed, and tried again.

"Our mother, she-she had this necklace. It was a ruby pendant, set in gold. She tried to take it off, thow it at the thieves, but she wasn't fast enough for them. They yanked it from her neck, from behind, breaking the chain. And while she was on her knees, gasping for breath, they killed her". The words were tumbling out now, fast and frantic, almost nonsensical.

"They killed her, and laughed. Said she wasn't pretty enough to keep. Then, they set the house on fire-nothing else there of value, they said. Our whole lives, dismissed in an instant-nothing of value. We-Ariel and I-we were hiding in a cupboard the whole time, too scared to move, to do anything. Once the flames started to burn around us, though, we moved. We ran, and ran, and ran, until we couldn't any longer.

"And then we went back. What else could we do? We couldn't bear to go back to what had been our house, so we went to the other villagers for help. They turned us away". Now Netra's voice turned angry as she continued, lost in the past.

"They turned us away-two sad, terrified girls. Never mind that we'd just lost our mother, that we were now two orphans. No, we were the witch-girls, the devil-children, and we had to be cast out before we did something to them. They were scared of us, scared of our powers; most of them had been for years. Some of them even whispered that we had something to do with the attack, that we'd brought it on them.

"We were angry. Who wouldn't have been? But all that anger, and fear, and sorrow...all that pain just bundled up inside us and broke us, a little bit. We went a little crazy. We bound our neighbor Clara-the last person we begged to help us-to give us all the money she had on her, and then we made her forget that we had ever existed. Well, I say we, but I did the first part, and Ariel did the second. And then we left. We didn't want anything to do with the place we once had called home.

"We spent the night out in the open, under some trees off the road. We clung to each other and cried-can you blame us? Two children, now alone in the world, without family or friends or a home. All we had was each other. Our mother, the only person who had ever truly loved us, was dead, murdered right in front of us. We didn't know what to do". Netra's voice shook as she continued the story, as though she was ten again and the pain was still fresh in her mind. She had no idea how Will was reacting to any of her story; she obviously couldn't see him, and he had as of yet made no comments, allowing her to simply continue on.

"When we woke up in the morning, we just continued down the road, waiting to see where it would take us. We ended up in another village, the small town of Edgewell. We went to the inn there, to try to get a meal and a room. We hadn't eaten since the previous morning, so we were fairly hungry". That was an understatement. The two girls, used to three regular meals a day, had barely has the strength to make it in the inn.

"When we went inside, the innkeeper took one look at us-two young, filthy children covered in dust and soot and who knows what else-and ordered us out, telling us to clean up and come back with our parents. We were exhausted and starving, so can you really blame us for binding the woman to give us a room, and to bring us a meal up to the room? We spent the night. there, and then left in the morning, binding them to give us a few coins and forget us completely". Netra stopped for a moment; the part of her past that she was the least proud of was approaching. She knew, however, that she had to continue, that she had to tell Will the whole truth.

"And that wasn't the last time we did it. Over the next two years, that was our life. We moved around, forcing people to let us stay in their inns or houses. We stole food, money, goods-and then made them forget we had ever existed. Sometimes we'd stay for a night, or a week, and we'd just invade their lives, forcing them to cater to us. Some of the people we took from-they were poor. They probably couldn't afford our stay with them. But we didn't care-or at least, we refused to think about that fact. Maybe it's the same thing.

"I knew-we both knew-that it was wrong. We could have gone somewhere to stay and work. We could have gone to the castle and begged to stay at Norgate's Ward. But we didn't. I don't know why. It seemed easier, I guess. And, I don't know, it felt like life owed us, somehow, because it had taken our mother". Netra could imagine the look of disappointment that must be in Will's eyes right now as he looked at her. She ducked her head , trying to escape the gaze she perceived was pinning her down.

"As I said, we continued this for about two years. By that time, we were starting to feel invincible-like nothing and no one could ever stop us. What we didn't know, however, is that something was about to happen that would that would completely shake up our world for the second time in our short lives". Netra paused for a moment here.

"What happened?" Will asked. It was the first thing he'd said throughout the girl's whole story.

"Harrison caught us".

* * *

**And so ends the first part of Netra's story! What do you guys think so far? Was the chapter ending okay, or was it too abrupt? I was going to put her whole story in one chapter, but it was getting long, and I wanted to get something posted for you guys. Sorry for leaving you all with that cliff hanger for so long! I had this chapter almost finished about two weeks ago, but then I realized that what I'd written had gotten away from what I was trying to do, was written terribly, and didn't make a ton of sense, so I had to rewrite most of it. Sorry guys! Anyway, reviews are appreciated! Thanks for sticking with me this far!**


	9. Chapter 9

_ What we didn't know, however, is that something was about to happen that would that would completely shake up our world"._

_"What happened?" Will asked Netra._

_"Harrison caught us"._

"We got careless one day. Like I said, we'd begun to feel like we were invincible, so we weren't as cautious as we once were. We spent the night at an inn, and as was our custom, we took a good portion from their strongbox, made them forget us, and were on our way. Unfortunately, we didn't cover our tracks any more than that. Later that day, when the innkeeper's wife went to get some money to go shopping, she discovered a half-empty safe, and screamed to her husband that they'd been robbed. Panicked, her husband ran for the Ranger, whose cabin was in the woods nearby".

"The Ranger being Harrison?" Will asked. His voice gave away no hint of what he was thinking.

"Yes, it was Harrison," Netra replied. "When the man came with tales of a robber, Harrison of course went back to the inn to investigate. But what he found there puzzled him slightly.

"He asked the innkeeper if anyone suspicious or unusual had stayed recently. Of course, the man didn't remember us, so he told Harrison that there hadn't been anyone odd. However, when Harrison began to ask around, those who had been in the inn that night for a drink or a meal remembered that there had been two girls with strange, pale eyes that had been down in the dining room and had spent the night in one of the inn's rooms. He questioned the innkeeper's wife about the girls-us-and though she seemed to get a little confused once we were mentioned, she said that no one like us had ever set foot in the inn. And yet, about fifteen witnesses swore that we had been there.

"This left Harrison with a bit of a conundrum. How could the innkeeper not remember two somewhat unusual guests? Was he and his wife lying? But if they were, why had they come to him for help about the robbery in the first place? It didn't add up. He thought there was more going on than simply the petty theft that had occurred, and so he decided to search us out.

"He tracked us down to the next town we stayed at. I'm sure it wasn't difficult; we didn't make any particular effort to hide our tracks or the like, and I'm sure plenty of the people we passed freely gossiped about the two strange twins that passed by. He'd discarded his Ranger's cloak and bow, and with the cowl of a traveler's cloak pulled up, no one recognized him. He slipped in, unnoticed, into the town, and followed the trail of gossip to the inn where we stopped at.

"We were in the dining room eating dinner when he arrived. We didn't notice him, of course; he was, from our perspective, just a simple traveler. But he was watching us, and so he saw when we bound the inn's owner".

"You bound someone in a roomful of people and didn't expect anyone to notice?" Will asked, his tone slightly incredulous.

"We were experts at this, remember," Netra responded, sounding a touch defensive. "It wasn't a huge, flashy event. Just Ariel touching the owner's hand and quietly telling her to let us stay the night without paying. It was a noisy room; no one else was paying attention. Except, of course, for Harrison.

"He had no idea what he was seeing. The woman had walked up to us, asking for payment, but Ariel had touched her and ordered her to let us stay for free and she backed off. What was going on? Not being the superstitious type, his thoughts didn't immediately turn to us having some sort of powers; he thought perhaps we were somehow threatening people or blackmailing them, ordering them to put us up and then deny we had ever been there. Whatever the case was, he thought, he needed to talk to us, find out more.

"So he did just that. Or he tried to, anyway".

"He didn't succeed?" Will asked.

"No, he didn't. The next morning, when Ariel and I rode out, he was waiting for us. He'd put his camouflage cloak back on, and he had his longbow with him, so when he yelled out at us that he was a King's Ranger, we believed him immediately. Actually, we panicked when we saw him coming. You know, of course, that many people believe Rangers have dark magic; we were no exception to that belief. We were both terrified that he was some sort of dark sorcerer who wouldn't be affected by our powers. When he told us to stop, we did, paralyzed with fear. When he got closer, and looked us both in the eye, doubtless about to question us, instinct took over. I cried out for him to stop moving, not to come any closer, and he froze, bound by my eyes. I think both Ariel and I heaved a sigh of relief at the same moment". Netra smiled sadly for a minute, remembering the quick glance between her and her twin. It was the small moments like that, the instances of thinking almost as one, that was one of the things she missed most about her sister.

"So what happened next?" Will asked. Netra noticed he was beginning to become more active in their conversation. She hoped, perhaps illogically, that this was a sign that he had at least some compassion for her.

"We made him tell us why he was after us, how he'd found us, and so on. The end result of what he told us was part of the story I've been telling you.

"We weren't totally sure what to do after that point. If Harrison had seen us for what we were, could someone else have? And what if they told others? That was our biggest fear, deep down. Our powers were nearly useless against a crowd-you can't touch or make eye contact with ten people at once-and we both knew that if we were attacked by a mob, we were done for.

"We were scared. We realized how careless we'd been, and we thought, maybe, we should lay low for a little while. We'd heard that Rangers lived in cabins deep in the woods, and we thought, what better place to hide? So we decided we were going to go with Harrison back to his cabin. Just for a little while, we told ourselves. Until any indignation about our thefts died down.

"So we did just that. We invaded Harrison's life-invaded his very mind, actually. He thought he'd invited us to stay with him after hearing that we were orphans. At first, we didn't really change all that much about his life; he went about his normal duties by day, and then by night he entertained us. After a while, though, we decided that we didn't want him to leave. It was boring for us, just sitting around the cabin all day. Without the thrill of moving around and stealing, we didn't have much to occupy us.

"We were children," Netra bitterly spat out the last word. "Immature children, with far more power that any child should be allowed to have. You would think losing our mother would have forced us to mature quickly: it didn't. It just left us with an emptiness inside us, and a feeling that the world owed us for it. And we tried to fill that emptiness, letting everyone else pay for it. If we wanted something, we took it. There was no one to tell us we couldn't, no one to correct us when we went wrong. So we just did whatever we wanted to do, never thinking about the consequences of our selfish, self-centered actions.

"So we kept Harrison with us, to entertain us and keep us company. That's when I learned how to throw knives; Harrison offered to teach me when I was bored one day. I liked it and stuck to it. Ariel was always preferred stealth to weapons; she learned some rudimentary silent and unseen movement skills.

"We stayed with Harrison for, I don't know, six months. And during that time, we kept him with us for the most part; we didn't let him do his duties as a Ranger. We stayed hidden from the world from that time. And if the world hadn't come knocking on the door, the two of us might be there still.

"One day a man showed up to the cabin. His clothes were torn up, and he stank of smoke and of sweat. He clearly had come a long way". Netra could still remember her and Ariel's shock at having the disheveled stranger appear on their doorstep.

"He said his village had been attacked by raiders. When a group of men and women showed up, all bearing weapons and looking like they knew how to use them, the town panicked. This wasn't a group of normal thieves, though; they weren't interested in valuables or money".

"They were looking for someone. They didn't know much about the person they were looking for; only that she was a teenage girl, and she had blue eyes. So, they said that any blue eyed girls needed to come with them; if they didn't end up being the right person, they'd be sent back home, safe and unharmed. The women in the group swore that they would protect the girls, that no harm would come to them in any way.

"The parents, of course, still feared for their daughters' safety. But when the bandits threatened to burn the village down around them, they had no choice but to comply. As soon as they had left, though, Gareth-the man who came to Harrison, and the father of one of the stolen girls-ran as fast as he could to the cabin for help.

"Harrison, of course, started getting ready to go after the raiders. Ariel and I wanted the poor girls to be saved, and the man to be reunited with his daughter, so we didn't make him stay. Instead, we decided to go with him.

"Had he been in his normal state of mind, I'm sure he would have protested us coming. But, of course, at the time, he was totally under Ariel's thumb, so he didn't argue with us. Gareth thought it was strange that two girls were coming as well, but Ariel quickly fixed his mind so he didn't wonder about it at all.

"We thought it would be fun, that we were going on an adventure. We thought we were going to help rescue the girls, heroically bring them back to their village, and then go back to our normal lives. You'd think that our past experiences would have taught us that life wasn't quite so pretty.

"When we were on the way to Gareth's town, we had to pass through a few other villages along the way. We heard whispers there, about how the strange bandits had been all over the fief. Always the same group, always saying they were looking for someone. Apparently, it had been going on for quite some time now. Hearing that, a small part of me wondered if we'd been wrong to keep Harrison with us, away from his work, for all this time, if something like this had been going on. The rest of me quickly quieted that thought. We were doing something now, weren't we? And with us to help him, Harrison was going to do better than ever.

"When, on our way into town, we passed the freshly dug graves and the remains of the house that had burned, it dampened our mood a little. We put it out of our heads though, went back to our pleasant thoughts about adventure and heroics.

"The rest of that day...Harrison investigated, and we ended up on the trail of the bandits. We were following them, and when we stopped for the night, Ariel and I overruled Harrison when he wanted to have us take shifts on sentry duty. We thought that there was no way the bandits could know we were there, and that we should all just get some sleep. So that's what we did.

"We woke up in the middle of the night to yelling. I still don't know how, but the bandits had found us, and they'd surrounded us. It was dark, so eye contact was uncertain, and they were all initially standing about ten feet away from us; our powers were useless. After that...what happened is a bit of a blur. At some point, someone hit me in the head with the hilt of their sword, and I collapsed, semiconscious. Everything was hazy, so I'm not really certain of the details after that point. The one thing I do remember clearly, though, is something I'll remember all my days: one of the men, carrying an unconscious Ariel and pushing her onto a horse. I tried to get up, to run to her and help her, but no sooner had I stood up then I collapsed again. After that, I don't remember anything; I must have blacked out.

"When I woke up, it was morning, and everything was calm. It was just Harrison and I in the small clearing. They'd taken Ariel.

"I ran to Harrison, thinking he could track the raiders and find her. As soon as I looked at him, however, it was clear that he was in no shape to go anywhere anytime soon; he'd taken a fairly hard beating in the fight. I ran back to the village, and told them where he was, and that he needed help, quickly. Several of them, including the village healer, quickly went to go take care of him. The healer looked him over, and relayed a list of his injuries: serious concussion, two broken ribs, a broken leg, and countless minor injuries. My guess is that the bandits realized he was a Ranger, and gave him a thorough beating to make sure he wasn't about to follow them. After I heard that, I knew that there was no way he'd be able to help me get Ariel back, even if I could bind him to make him help me".

"So I went elsewhere for help. I borrowed Harrison's horse and rode as fast as I could to the next fief over, Halloway. I got directions from the locals to the Ranger's cabin, but when I got there, he was gone. I suppose he was busy somewhere else in the fief. What mattered to me at that moment, however, was that he would be no help to me-or to Ariel. I wasn't sure where to go next. I briefly considered riding to the castle to seek help from the knights there, but I decided against it. Knights were official-like people who seemed a lot more likely to ask questions that could prove awkward to me and Ariel, and a lot less likely to readily come help a strange girl they knew nothing about. Rangers, on the other hand, seemed much more willing to help on a whim; I also trusted Rangers after all the time I'd spent with Harrison.

"So I rode hard for the next fief over. I couldn't make it there that day; I had to stop and camp for the night. It wasn't a very restful stop, though; there was an absolute downpour of rain that evening, and I had no camping equipment to speak of. Despite that, early in the morning I was off again.

"When I did make it to the Ranger of Marrington's cabin, it was late in the evening. He wasn't alone; when I knocked on the door, two other men-knights, I think-were standing behind him. I told him what had happened, and begged him to come and help me. When he heard that Ariel had been captured two days ago, and that we were two days of hard riding away from where she had been taken, he told me that she would be long gone by the time we could track her down; the bandits would have left in a hurry, and the rain the last night would have erased any signs of their trail. I pleaded with him to come and try anyway, but he told me he couldn't leave his own fief unprotected to go and search after one girl, especially one girl who probably couldn't be found anyway.

"I got angry that he was just dismissing Ariel like that, and I probably would have bound him then and there, ignoring any future consequences, to come and help me find her if the two knights hadn't been there with him. Despite being upset, I knew that there was no way I could bind all three of them at once. So I turned around and walked out the door, leaving the cabin. What else could I have done? There was no way I could get help from there

"I rode away, not going anywhere in particular, and thought about what I should do next. I couldn't go back to Harrison; without Ariel to bind his mind, I couldn't easily keep him under control in the long term. Ariel had bound him to forget us if we ever left-it was a safety precaution for us, in case we ever wanted to leave in a hurry-so I knew he wouldn't seek me out. I guess her binding must have gradually worn off over time-enough so that when he saw me yesterday, it jogged his memory. Anyway, so I knew I couldn't go to him in Norgate to ask him for help. And I couldn't bind anyone to help me; a search for Ariel would take days, even weeks. There was no way I could manage to bind someone constantly for that long-I'd collapse from exhaustion. Not to mention the fact that'd I'd need to make constant physical contact or eye contact with them. So that was out. And after hearing Marrington's Ranger's answer, I doubted I would be able to get anyone to help me voluntarily. The only way I could save Ariel was if I helped her myself.

"That posed a problem, however. How could I help Ariel? I had next to no skills in tracking, and I wouldn't know the first thing about searching for someone. That was why I'd gone to the Rangers for help, after all: they were experts in that type of thing. So, was there any way for me to be able to learn those types of skills? You can probably guess what the answer was.

"I came up with a plan; I would ride to the next nearest fief-which happened to be Redmont-and beg the Ranger there to take me on as an apprentice. I didn't know that Ranger training lasted for five years; I thought I could train for a few months, learn everything there was to know, and then ride of to find Ariel.

"By the time I actually reached your doorstep, my plan had developed a little more. I set Harrison's horse free-I was afraid she would be recognized-and I decided to borrow Tug to get your attention. Harrison had told Ariel and I about the code words Ranger horses had, so I knew it would be shocking for you to see someone else riding him without problem.

"Everything I told you that day about why I wanted to be a Ranger was absolutely true. It just...wasn't the entire truth.

"That's my story, all of it. I swear it's the truth, though I know you have no reason to believe me or to ever trust me again". She looked down, done with her tale, preparing herself to accept whatever was to come next.

For a long moment, there was silence between them. Will said nothing, neither forgiving her nor condemning her.

"I'm sorry". She said, sincerity and regret clear in her voice. Will still said nothing, but Netra heard him move, and then she felt hands behind her untying the knot of the blindfold. The bright sunlight struck her eyes painfully as the blindfold fell away, and by the time she could see again, Will was already walking away.

* * *

**So that's Netra's story. What do you all think? Especially, what do you think of the last two sentences? I'm curious if I achieved the effect I was going for there. So, if you want to be extra awesome, tell me in a review if you thought there was any significance to Will untying Netra's blindfold/what was significant about it. Or leave a review about something else in the chapter, whatever you want to do. **

**This chapter ended up being **_**really **_**long. I decided not to break it up into multiple chapters, mostly because I think it flows this way and because I just realized how long it was and I don't want to change it now. **

**I now have a goal for updates: at least once a month. I realize that isn't very frequent, and I am going to try to update more often than that, but that's my absolute minimum to prevent myself from not updating for like three months again. So hopefully, I'll be able to stick to that! **


	10. Chapter 10

As Will walked away from his apprentice, he tried to take in the tale he'd just been told. The basic facts seemed to match up with the garbled and confused story that Harrison had given them. Norgate's Ranger seemed to have trouble recalling the time the twins had spent with him; an effect, no doubt, of Ariel's binding. The fact that the stories matched, however, seemed to indicate that Netra had been telling the truth. Unless, of course, Harrison had been bound to lie to correspond with her. Though if she had Ariel do that, she would probably have spun a tale putting them in a better light...Will shook his head. He truly didn't know anymore. His instincts told him that Netra was telling the truth, that she wasn't a bad person. When he'd untied her blindfold, it had been because of that instinct; he really did want to trust her. But could he?

When he'd heard her story, he'd heard the regret for her mistakes and the genuine disgust at the people she and her sister had been in her voice. Most of all, he'd heard the sorrow she felt over the loss of her sister. Yes, she had lied to him, but it had all been in the hope that it would help her save her sister. That didn't make it all right, but did it make it forgivable? He thought maybe it did.

Which brought him back to his earlier question: could he trust Netra? He had a choice, he realized. He could choose to trust her, or he could choose to believe that, because she had lied, he could not.

But it wasn't really still a choice, was it? He'd made his decision months ago, when he'd decided to trust the strange green-eyed girl who'd stolen his horse. He'd decided to trust her then, and even though he was angry and hurt that she'd lied to him, he still trusted her. He'd spent the past few months with her, and he _knew _her; Netra might have made some poor choices, but she was a good person.

And she would make a great Ranger someday.

With that thought, Will's steps quickened. Crowley had ordered him to report on Netra's past, and he needed to do just that-and convince Crowley to let Netra stay as his apprentice.

* * *

"The answer is no, Will". Crowley said. "She's a criminal, by her own admission! Her interference with Harrison is treason, and you know it".

"Crowley-" Will begged, but Crowley cut him off.

"This isn't open for discussion. There are far more important things at stake right now".

"She's my apprentice!" Will said, his voice rising. "I don't care what important things are at stake-"

"She isn't your apprentice any longer," Crowley said coldly, "And I think you'll find this news as important as I do". Will suddenly noticed how deadly serious Crowley looked; it was the complete opposite of his typical cheerful nature. His angry retort dying on his tongue as dread for whatever Crowley's news was settled in the pit of his stomach.

"What's happened, Crowley?" Halt, who until now had been standing there silently, asked. Crowley, despite his normal energy looked for a moment old, and tired.

"Gilan's gone missing".

* * *

**Apologies for the short chapter! I'll try to get chapter 11 up soon to make up for it. So, question for you guys: do you think Netra is a Mary Sue? I've been trying not to go down that path, but I took an online Mary Sue test, and it said there was a high probability that she was one...I dislike reading Mary Sue OC stories, and it was NEVER my intention to end up writing one. So honestly, is she one? If you want to do me a huge favor, tell me your opinion (and why you think that) in a review (or a PM, whatever you want). If people think she's a Mary Sue and have suggestions on how to fix it, I'll go back and rewrite past chapters and try to change my outline to get rid of any Mary Sue-ness. Thanks y'all!**


	11. Chapter 11

"Missing? What do you mean, he's gone missing?" Will asked, clearly startled. "How could Gilan go missing?"

"Crowley might explain if you give him the chance to do so," Halt said, looking pointedly at his former apprentice, who sheepishly looked down. Despite the teasing, however, surprise and worry for Gilan was clear in Halt's face; it was obvious that he hadn't heard this piece of news yet either.

"For a while, we've been hearing some unsettling rumors coming from Gallica," Crowley said. "People are saying that there's a new warlord gaining power-"

"What's so unusual about that?" Will interrupted. "From what I've heard about the country, knights gain and lose land all the time there. The king there is weak; he doesn't hold any real control over the country". Crowley and Halt both stared at Will, and he stopped talking as he realized that he'd interrupted again.

"As I was saying," Crowley continued, "there's a new warlord gaining power. Not in the typical Gallican style; normally, these knights will rise up, challenge anyone around them, and take over a castle and its surrounding lands. This man seems to be amassing power-in the form of large amounts of land, men, and wealth-from the rumors we've heard, he'll soon be able to take over the country, and he's planning on doing so".

"Rumors?" Halt asked skeptically. "Rumors like that tend to get exaggerated the farther we get from the source. Isn't it more likely these stories originated from some knight who's recently taken over a castle?"

"That's what I thought-at first. Then I began getting reports of a mass migration of Gallicans into Araluen. Dozens of them have fled their country and headed here, claiming that the warlord Magnus has been taking over land and pressing peasants into his army. They mostly arrived in small villages that didn't have much contact with the rest of the fief, so it took a while for word to get to me. The rumors were worrying enough that I sent Gilan to Gallica to investigate. Rumors _do _have a tendency to be exaggerated; this one seemed to have some truth to it, but I needed someone to investigate firsthand to be sure. And rumors don't give accurate reports that include facts like how likely this Magnus is to be an enemy of Araluen".

"Why did you send Gilan, instead of Halt or I?" Will asked. While Crowley did send Gilan on special missions from time to time, he usually sent Will, Halt, or the two of them together if possible.

"It was a few months ago, when Lady Pauline was ill, so I didn't want to send Halt away from home, and Netra wasn't ready to go on a mission a few months ago, so you couldn't go either". Lady Pauline had caught the coughing sickness that had been going through Redmont at the time, and for a while she had been ill enough that Halt had taken a leave of absence to be with her.

Will nodded, remembering the occurrence. "So what happened? How did Gilan go missing?"

"I don't know," Crowley said grimly. "He was supposed to be back two months ago. I've heard nothing from him since he left. At first, I thought he was staying a little longer than expected to gather more information, but two months with no contact whatsoever...it's alarming, to say the least". Halt and Will both nodded in agreement, worried expressions on their faces.

"So you want us to go after him?" Halt asked. Crowley nodded.

"I want you to leave as soon as you can," he said. Will was torn. Gilan was one of his best friends, and his first instinct was to rush to his aid. On the other hand, whatever Crowley said, Netra was his apprentice. He couldn't just leave her as she went through a trial that could possibly end in her execution.

"What about Netra? What's going to happen to her?" Will asked. Crowley looked like he was about to object to the worry in Will's voice, but then something appeared to occur to him, and a thin smile spread across his lips.

"She'll go with you".

**Are Will's feelings about Netra in character? I think the master-apprentice bond would insure that he still had some sort of loyalty to her. But anyway...**

**I'm kind of feeling done with this story, to be honest. Literally the only reason I'm continuing it is because I hate it when people don't finish stories. I haven't even had the motivation to meet my once a month posting goal...I'm honestly slightly embarrassed to have this story posted with my other stuff. I think what's going to happen is I'm going to finish writing the story mostly as I have it planned out, just so I can get it done and over with. After that I'll probably either go back and fix everything, or delete it after leaving it up for like a week or whatever so y'all can read the ending. Seriously, thanks to everyone who's favorited/followed; you guys are the only reason I'm not just deleting this whole thing off the website right now. So thanks for the support!**


	12. Chapter 12

"What?" Halt asked, his voice low and dangerous. Both he and Will stared at Crowley like he had sprouted another head.

"She can be your cover story. Will's...orphaned niece, who's had some trouble with the law in Araluen and needs a safe place to stay out of the country," Crowley said, clearly thinking out loud and making up a plan as he went along. "For crimes involving Rangers, as Commandant I'm allowed to make my own decisions if the need arises; King Duncan drafted the law after the events leading to Halt's banishment years ago". Will nodded as he remembered the change. His mind quickly returned to the real issue at hand, however, and he once again returned to staring at Crowley in disbelief. "I can declare Netra to be banished for treason. She deserves it and you know it, Will," he said as Will opened his mouth to protest. Knowing he was right, Will held his tongue.

"This isn't a good idea," Halt began before Crowley cut him off.

"It solves two of our problems at once. If her case goes to trial, there's a good chance it'll end up with her being locked up forever-and Will here would protest if that happens. It also gives you and Will a decent excuse for being in the country. Two armed men traveling together could be seen as a threat. Two men with a girl? No one will think twice-even a warlord who's possibly already captured one Ranger and is looking for more". Will had to admit, it was an intelligent plan. And he agreed with Crowley on one thing: it was better for Netra to be banished than to be thrown in prison. Halt, however, still seemed unconvinced.

"And what's from stopping her from using her abilities to come right back here and doing who knows what after we leave her? What's to stop her from using her abilities to control us?" Halt said almost angrily. Will looked at him in surprise-it wasn't like Halt to show that much emotion. He replied before Crowley could.

"We know how her powers work-we don't have to touch her or look her in the eye. Even if she managed to get to one of us, it's unlikely she could control both of us at once, and the other person could help stop her from controlling the first. And as for after she leaves, she won't. She's said herself that a group of armed men can overcome her. She knows the type of armed power we would send after her if she came back. Besides, without her sister to get in people's heads, there's no way for her to use her abilities without attracting attention. She won't dare to bind anyone". Halt still looked unhappy with the arrangement, but he could obviously tell that arguing with the other two men wouldn't help. He nodded his assent to the plan.

"Let's get going".

* * *

Halt was not happy.

He was unhappy with basically everything about this situation. He was worried about Gilan, his missing former apprentice. He also was worried about Will-he was too trusting of his own apprentice who'd proven herself to be untrustworthy. He was mostly angry at himself, however. He considered himself to be a good judge of others, and he had been very, very wrong in his judgement of Netra. He'd thought she was an honest person-a few secrets, perhaps, but he himself had kept his past a secret from most others for years. He'd thought she was who she had said she was, and he was wrong. She was a traitor and a liar, and he'd fallen for her act.

It worried him that he had been so easily fooled. He knew he wasn't perfect, but he was good at what he did. Was he slipping? Was old age finally beginning to take the edge off his skills? He was realistic enough to know that it would eventually happen. He just hadn't thought it would happen so soon.

Slipping or no, he had a job to do now. Will was an incredible Ranger-but he was also very loyal to his friends, and in this case that was dangerous. Halt wasn't sure Will could see the danger that the girl was; her abilities were a serious threat. Will trusted her, but Halt didn't. So he would keep an eye on her. And if she tried anything, he didn't plan on letting her live to regret it.

* * *

**Hey look I actually managed to write this before the month ended. Once a month posting goal achieved! **

**So thanks to everyone for their reviews after the last chapter. Thanks to all the support from y'all, I will not be deleting this after I finish it (or at least I'm not planning on it). I honestly didn't realize that people were actually enjoying this. Once it's finally over, I'll see if I feel inspired to go back and fix it. If I don't, odds are it will stay as is. **

**Also, I realized that a single conversation took three chapters to finish. Oops...**


	13. Chapter 13

Netra had been waiting for what had felt like hours when Will and Halt returned. She couldn't read either of their expressions as they untied her ankles and told her to get up, and she wasn't wasn't sure if that worried her or not. Hands still tied behind her back, she walked between the two Rangers, eyes downcast. She could feel the stares of all the Rangers they passed burning into her; dislike and anger being the two main emotions of the crowd. Harrison was popular among the Rangers, and her crime against him had not been received well. Finally, they passed everyone and reached Crowley at the end of the clearing.

"You're banished," he said, without preamble. Netra's mouth dropped open. Banishment? That was a punishment she'd never considered. Imprisonment, a trial, even an execution: all those she'd been ready for and expecting, but banishment? Her first thought was of relief; they were letting her go! After the mess that was the past four years of her life, going somewhere where she could start off fresh didn't seem so bad. Then she realized that it meant she'd be leaving behind any hope of ever finding Ariel again. Before she could form a coherent thing to say, Crowley was taking again, explaining his plan. She was shocked to hear that Gilan had gone missing. She wondered what they were walking into-what type of situation would render Gilan, who was a very good Ranger, helpless. She had a feeling that it was nothing good.

"So I'm supposed to be Will's niece? What's Halt supposed to be then?"

"A concerned friend who Will's paying to help handle you. You're quite a handful for him-you've tried to rob him blind and run several times. Luckily for you, he cares about you and owes it to your mother to get you settled in". Netra looked unconvinced.

"Wouldn't just me and Will traveling together be less conspicuous?" She asked.

"It would be," Halt replied, "But that would require us trusting you alone with anyone".

"And if Gilan's in trouble, I'm not sending another Ranger in without backup". Crowley added. Netra nodded. Crowley's logic made sense, and as for Halt's comment, she knew she'd given them no reason to trust her.

"When do we leave?" She asked. Asking questions was easier than trying to comprehend the thought that she'd been banished. Will looked to Halt for the answer.

"Now," he replied. There was no real reason to wait, and if Gilan needed them, he wanted to be able to go to the aid of his former apprentice as quickly as possible.

"Right. I'll spread the word here that Netra's banished-we struck a deal with her that we'd let her go if she swore to never return to Araluen. No one's going to like it-least of all Harrison-but they'll believe it if we say we were worried our prison couldn't hold her. I don't want anyone else knowing about Gilan if possible, so if anyone asks he's away on a routine mission and should be back soon," said Crowley.

"Let's go. We should get our gear packed up," said Will. He pulled his throwing knife out of its sheath and cut the cords that tied Netra's wrists. The three of them turned around and left Crowley. Netra quickly packed up the tents the three of them had pitched and gathered up their gear, unconsciously falling back into the role of the apprentice. Within half an hour they were on their horses riding off.

"We'll head for the nearest port; we should be able to get a ship from there," Will said. Halt nodded unhappily, clearly not thrilled with the prospect of being on a boat. They rode in an awkward silence; neither of the two men feeling inclined to chat idly with or in front of the disgraced ex-apprentice. Netra also chose not to say anything, still caught up in trying to untangle the bundle of emotions caused by recent events.

She was no longer a Ranger apprentice. It hurt more than she thought it would. She'd originally wanted to become a Ranger simply as a means to an end; it was a way to find Ariel, and as a bonus it was a way to pay a debt, but it was nothing more. But after her months with Will, her apprenticeship had started to mean something, and the thought of being a Ranger had started to mean something as well. But just as she'd truly started to want to be a Ranger, the opportunity was gone, lost by her foolish past actions.

And she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she been banished. It seemed too surreal. The only reason she had initially survived the kidnapping of her twin-the only family she had in the world-was with the thought that someday, she would find Ariel again. Now even that vague hope was being taken from her, and she didn't know if she could cope.

She was jolted from her thoughts when Will signaled for her to stop; they had reached the harbor, and he and Halt were dismounting. She quickly followed suit. After a brief conversation with the captain (and after a not insubstantial amount of money changed hands) Will told Netra to get on board the boat with the red flag; they were leaving immediately. She did as she was told. When the boat pushed off, however, she didn't go below like Will and Halt did. Instead, she stood on deck looking back at the land they were leaving behind. After all, she would never see it again.

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**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Review with criticism (or any type of reviews) are very much appreciated.**


	14. Chapter 14

Netra had never been on a boat before. She'd be happy to never be on one again.

She didn't get seasick, but it still hadn't been a pleasant experience. She'd spent most of the journey wet and freezing; it had stormed most of the time. Worse, Will and Halt had forbidden her from talking to anyone other than them, or from leaving their sight. She knew the reasoning behind this - they were taking away any opportunity she could have to bind one of the large, powerful sailors - but knowing why they did it didn't make it any more pleasant. Even more unfortunately, since Halt had been seasick for the majority of the trip, that meant she'd been spending far more time than she would have liked to with her former master.

It had been extremely awkward. She had nothing to say to him - what could she say after how she'd lied to him - and he apparently had nothing to say to her. She'd spent ridiculous amounts of time staring out into the sea pretending to be extremely interested in the seemingly-endless blue view - pretending she was alone, and that she couldn't feel Will watching her.

At night, she'd been locked in a her room, alone (so she couldn't bind anyone while they slept). She'd had a hard time sleeping on the boat - something about the motion just wouldn't let her get to sleep - so that had meant a few very long nights.

The journey had only taken a few days, but it had been a few days too many in Netra's opinion.

Once they actually got to Gallica, things were at least a little better. They spent the first day riding, which at least gave them something to do, even if conversation was lacking. Eventually, Halt spoke to Will.

"We should stop at an inn soon for supper. It'll be the best place for us to hear the local's gossip about what's been going on. Remember, Netra's your troubled niece who you want to find a place for. Did you bring your lute?"

"It's a mandola," Will said tiredly, "And yes, I have it. Am I going with the jongleur act?" Halt nodded.

"It'll be the best way to get people to trust you - everyone will talk to a jongleur. It'll also be less odd that you're traveling around with your niece - you'd have no choice, with your line of work, other than to take her with you everywhere until you could find her a place. As for you," he said, turning to Netra.

"Play the part. Act sulky whenever Will tries to talk to you - like you don't want to be with him. Try to sneak coins from his earnings at least once - we want to give the impression that you're a handful - but don't steal from anyone else - we don't need the trouble."

Act like you don't want to be here, Netra thought. That won't be a stretch.

"And don't even think about trying anything," Halt added. "Will may be busy playing music, but I'll be watching you. If you bind anyone, I'll see it. If you try to bind me or Will, the other one of us will see it and you will regret it." His eyes were cold as he said it, and Netra swallowed nervously as she nodded her understanding.

"Here's the town," Will said, lessening the tension. "And it looks like there's an inn here." There was indeed an inn with the sign reading "Green Bull Inn". They stabled their horses, and then headed inside. Netra swallowed nervously again as she passed through the doorway. Despite being less than thrilled with Will and Halt at the moment, she didn't want to give them away; she wanted to help Gilan as much as they did. Could she play the part as she needed to? She supposed she was about to find out.

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**Anyone have any guesses as to what's going to happen next? I'd love to hear what you're thinking, feel free to leave a review!**


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